Mayor of Montreal Declines to Retract Slur on Jews

November 21, 1930

Montreal (Nov. 20)

“I have nothing to retract or excuse as to what I said at Quebec concerning the Jews,” Mayor Houde declared yesterday in reference to the press reports regarding the anti-Semitic remarks he made at a political meeting in the provincial capital.

In his statement to the press the mayor, however, hinted at misrepresentation, giving the following version of the incident.

“Somebody in the audience said that if the Jews are not satisfied, let them leave the country. I replied, to gratify him on this point, that they now had a country to go toâ€”Palestine.”

The Gazette, Montreal English morning paper which contained a different version of the mayor’s speech, refutes this statement by the mayor. It claims that its report was accurate and that its reporter who was responsible for the story stated so to the mayor.

Commenting on the mayor’s explanation, an editorial in the Herald, another Montreal English daily, says:

“Mayor Houde’s explanation of this remark is that he said what he was reported to have said, but not with the implication that appears to have been deducted. Which does not help him much, we are afraid.”